a) Field of the Embodiments
This concept generally relates to card games and methods for playing card games, and more particularly to poker style card games.
b) Background Art
A brief description of the background art including standard play for a Texas Hold'em Poker Game will now be provided. A standard Texas Hold'em Poker Game will be played according to the following general rules or guidelines:
Before cards are even dealt in a game of Texas Hold'em, it is important to have some initial money on the table. Two ways to start the initial money on the table is to provide either antes or blinds. An ante is a set amount put in the pot by every player in the game prior to the cards being dealt. This amount does not count toward the bet on the first round of betting. Blinds, however, do count towards betting but will be described further below. The simple method of using antes is provided generally in home games. It is not very common to use antes with Texas Hold'em specifically, antes are more often found in games like five-card stud or draw. Antes can be used in conjunction with blinds in later stages of say for example a tournament.
The second way to get money on the table is through the use of blinds. Based on the limit of the game, the player to the left of the dealer and the second player to the left of the dealer are both required to put up mandatory bets before the cards are dealt. These blind placements count toward the total investment in the first round of betting. For example, if the pot is not raised in a pre-flop position, the small blind which is the blind or bet placed by the first player to the left of the dealer, will only have to put in another one-half of a bet to call. Likewise the big blind, or the bet placed by the player in second position from the left of the dealer, won't have to put any more money into the pot although the big blind will have the availability to raise his own blind. In an unraised pre-flop pot, this is referred to as the ‘option’.
Of course the amount that is put out by the blinds depends on the limit. In fixed limit poker, the big blind puts up a bet equal to the small limits. The small blind puts up half that amount. So if the limit is $5/$10, the big blind is $5.00 and the small blind is $2.50. This is unlike a no-limit or pot limit poker game. In a $5/$10 no-limit Hold'em Game, the small blind would be $5.00 and the big blind would be $10.00.
Still briefly discussing blinds and antes as they occur in tournaments, the way that Texas Hold'em tournaments are structured, the blind and/or antes go up after a set period of time, called the ‘escalation’. Each group of time for the blinds/antes stay the same is called a ‘level’. Usually when players go up a level, the blinds double or are less than double. If the antes are introduced, they usually do not double every level. To sometimes start a tournament, the big and small blinds are the same amount at the next level of the big doubles.
After the blinds or antes are submitted, the dealer shuffles up to a standard deck of 52 playing cards. If a House is providing the dealer, a deeper deck may be provided up to say for example six decks which have been preshuffled.
Each player is dealt two cards face down. These are called the hole or pocket cards. There is then a round of betting starting with the player to the left of the first two posted blinds players. This round is usually referred to as the pre-flop round.
The amount a player can bet depends on what kind of game is being played. During a betting round, similar to most games of poker, players can check, raise, or fold. After the betting round ends, the dealer discards the top card of the deck. This is called a burn card which is done to prevent cheating and the like.
The dealer then flips the next three cards face up on the table. These common cards are called the ‘flop’. The cards can be used by any player in combination with the two pocket cards to form a poker hand. After the ‘flop’ has occurred, there is another round of betting starting with the player to the left of the dealer. After the round of betting concludes, the dealer burns one more card and flips another card onto the table. This card is called the ‘turn card’. Players can use this sixth card to now form a five-card poker hand.
Again, the player to the left of the dealer begins another round of betting. Finally, the dealer burns a card and places a final card face up on the table. This final card is called the ‘river’. The players can now use any of the five cards on the table or the two cards in their pocket to form a five-card poker hand.
There is one final round of betting after the ‘river’ card has been placed which is again started with the player to the left of the dealer. After this final round of betting, all players remaining in the game begin to reveal their hands which resolves the bets. This reveal begins with the player to the left of the last player to call. This resolving of the bets is called the ‘showdown’. Players use a combination of their pocket cards and the community cards to form a poker hand. The player who shows the best hand wins. In some cases players with equal hands share the winnings. In this case the pot is split between the two winners.
A brief discussion of additional prior art poker games will now be provided.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,836,553 discloses a poker game. In the background of the invention section beginning in col. 2 at line 67, “it is an object of the present invention to provide a game of chance in which each player plays his poker hand against a poker hand held by the House or a banker and in which a player receives a bonus payment based on the type of poker hand that a player holds.” Further in the brief summary of the invention section, in col. 2 at line 13, “a modification of a conventional five card stud poker game particularly adapted for casino play is provided in which a dealer plays against each of a plurality of players. In the preferred method of play, each player places an ante in a designated location; the dealer deals five cards to each player and himself. All cards are dealt face down except the dealers. Each player views his hand and decides to continue by making an additional bet or twofold or drop, in which case he loses his ante. The dealer then reveals his entire hand; if the dealer's hand does not have a poker value of at least ace/king, then the dealer is not permitted to continue play. If this is the case, the dealer pays even money on the remaining player's antes, and returns their best to them. If the dealer's hand has poker value of ace/king or better, the dealer compares his hand to each player, paying or collecting the bets as appropriate.”
U.S. Pat. No. 5,288,081 discloses a method of playing a wagering game. According to the summary of the invention in col. 2 around line 1, the present invention is played with a single typical 52 card poker deck and broadly involves the generally well-recognized and accepted set of rules of five card poker”. Referring to line 7, “the game method comprises each player placing an initial three-part wager to participate in the game. Cards are dealt by a dealer, 3 down to each player and 2 down to the dealer. Players inspect their cards, and the dealer asks ‘take it or leave it or let it ride’, with regard to the first part of the initial bet. Players can choose to retrieve or remove from play the first part of their initial bet, or leave the first part in play or at risk, based on the value of the 3 cards in hand. The dealer turns over one of the dealer cards and the query is repeated. Players choose to retrieve or remove from play the second part of their initial bet or leave in play at risk, based on the value of the 4 cards consisting of the 3 cards in the players hand and the exposed dealer card. Players have no option with the third part of the bet. Lastly, all cards are shown and payouts and collections are resolved according to the ranking of the poker hands of each player.”
U.S. Pat. No. 6,206,374 discloses methods of playing poker games, referring to the summary of the invention as seen in column 2 at line 17, “the present invention relates to methods for playing seven card stud and five card draw poker variants including an optional progressive jackpot feature, and more particularly relates to particular variations of the Caribbean stud registered trademark poker variant disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,836,553 and including an optional progressive jackpot component as discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,861,041 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,078,405.”
U.S. Pat. No. 6,626,433 discloses a card game. In the summary of the invention section, at col. 3 line 1, “the card game of the present invention is played by a player first placing a bet, preferably in a betting spot using chips. Next, the dealer deals a predetermined number of cards to each player face down onto an area on the table called a ‘pot’ designated for the player and afterwards deals the same preset designated number of cards to another area on the table called the ‘dealer's pot’ in a location of the table designated for the dealer's pot. One play in a series includes the dealer turning up a player's top card and turning up the dealer's top card: high wins at even odds of 1 to 1; equal cards are a draw or ‘push’ and neither wins except if a player has a deuce in which case the player's deuce loses 1 to 1 odds; a player's ace wins at odds of 3 to 2. After one play, a player may place a new bet before cards are next turned over.” Referring to col. 4 around line 13, “an advantage of the card game of the present invention over prior art card games is that it is substantially less complex, thereby enabling the game to move quickly which decreases the associated operational overhead.”Further down col. 4 at line 22, “a still further advantage of the present invention is the simplicity of betting wherein a winning bet is easily recognized.”
U.S. Pat. No. 6,893,049 discloses crazy stud poker. In the summary of the invention section in col. 1 at line 22, “the present invention provides an improved means of playing stud poker using wild-card variations with an all 4 ace suites, all for 7 suites, all for 2 suites and both red and black jokers. The present card game invention has 54 cards therein. There are 14 cards used in the present invention to create the wild-card variations within the card game of crazy stud poker.”
U.S. Pat. No. 6,896,265 discloses casino flop poker. In the background section in col. 3 at line 25, “it is an object of the present invention to provide a casino variation of five card stud which allows players to bet against the House hand and each other while quickly revealing results of each game.” In the brief summary, in col. 3 at line 66, “the method includes one or more players making wagers against the House and against other players. Players are given the opportunity to increase their initial wager against the House. The player's hand is a designated winning outcome, the player receives a payoff based upon his wagers against the House and if the outcome is a losing outcome, the player's wagers against the House are lost. At the same time the player's hand is compared against all other hands in the game and the best hand wins all wagers against the other players. In flop poker the object of the game is 2-fold: a) to make a good poker hand and b) to win various bets.”
U.S. Pat. No. 6,959,928 discloses a poker type card game method. According to the summary of the invention in col. 5 beginning at line 51, “the basic game is showdown poker between at least one player's hand and a dealer's hand. Early in the game this new method always gives the dealer's hand preferred treatment; consequently, a dealer's initial/partial hand is always more valuable than the player's initial/partial hand. Later in the game, the dealer's advantage is partially or totally offset by a second specific game action that always favors the player's hand. This second action gives the player's hand the reasonable opportunity to beat the dealer's hand in a showdown. These two actions provide reciprocal advantages initially only to the dealer, then finally only to the player.”
In addition to the above prior art patents, there are number of poker games which focus on community cards players can combine with personal cards to form a five card hand. The following are variants of the popular Texas hold'em poker game as seen on the following web site http://www.texasholdem-poker.com/variants.php, they include:
“Pineapple”—Instead of two cards, each player is dealt three cards and immediately discards one of those three pocket cards face-down before pre-flop betting begins. This game is best played straight with no high/low option. Limit or no limit is preferable to pot limit.
“Crazy Pineapple”—Instead of two cards, each player is dealt three cards. Before the turn card is dealt (after the post-flop betting), each player discards one of those three pocket cards face-down. If a player does not discard a card, his or her hand is dead after the turn is dealt. This game is best played high/low, 8 or better. Limit and pot limit are common, with no limit being fairly rare.
“Double Flop Hold'em”—Whenever communal cards are dealt there are two different boards dealt. Players can use their two cards in combination with either of these two separate boards, one OR the other. So if you had JT and with boards of AJ533 and Q9855, you would have two pair, jacks and threes, ace kicker on the top board and a queen-high straight on the other. So your hand is a queen-high straight. You could NOT make a hand like a full house, fives full of jacks using both boards. This game is best straight without a high/low option with structured limits or no limit. Optionally it can be a split pot game where the winner of each of the two boards gets half the pot, which is often played pot limit.
“Super Hold'em”—Players are dealt three hole cards. Players may use all 3 in combination with 5 board cards to form a five card poker hand. Like Hold'em plus a card.
“Tahoe Poker”—Players are dealt three hole cards. Players must use exactly 2 of their hole cards in combination with 5 board cards to form a five card poker hand. Like Omaha minus a card.
“Omaha”—Players are dealt four cards instead of two. Players must use exactly two of their hole cards in combination with three of the five board cards to make a five card hand. Omaha is often played high/low, either fixed limit or pot limit.
“Chowaha”—Players get two hole cards but there are three flops (all dealt at the same time), two turns (dealt at once), and one river. Players form combinations of boards using their hole cards and specific board lines, of which there are four. The top flop can't be used with the bottom turn and the bottom flop can't be used with the top turn. Often this is played Eight or Better and different board lines can be used to make a high or a low hand.
“Blind Man's Bluff”—When each player is dealt their two pocket cards, they do not look at them. Instead they hold them against their forehead so that every other player can see them. If you look at your cards before the showdown, your hand is ruled dead.